Our view: Open books at New Hartford library

Uticaod

Writer

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 17, 2013 at 5:08 PM

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 17, 2013 at 5:08 PM

Many people were somewhat shocked last week to learn that the New Hartford Public Library was sitting on a $100,000 surplus. Among them: Town Councilman Don Backman, liaison between the library and the town board, and Edmund Wiatr, a library trustee and member of its finance committee.

How two key library-linked officials could have been in the dark on this is quite perplexing. Clearly the system of reporting |library finances needs to be changed to ensure a regular public accounting of funds — all of them.

Apparently that hasn’t been the case. It is baffling that Wiatr, as a library trustee and member of the board’s finance committee, would not have been privy to such a hefty surplus. And Backman, as the liaison between the library and the town board, said he never gets detailed financial reports from library trustees — usually only vague figures scratched out on notebook paper. That’s not acceptable. He should get regular financial statements from the library board showing revenue and expenses — and surplus.

There needs to be more public accountability. Since the library gets most of its funding from taxpayers, they have a right to know what’s there, especially since the board has been crying poverty and claim it was forced to take drastic measures to stay afloat, including cutting down on part-time personnel and reducing hours.

Town Supervisor Patrick Tyksinski, a former certified public accountant, said having reserve money is necessary to keep an organization running, and that we would not dispute. But the public library, whose board is struggling with credibility, needs to come clean with its total financial picture so that the people who support it know exactly where they stand.

That can — and should — be done with regular monthly reports made public. The town board should insist on it.